Kritiken

What’s good about HDD2U is how closely it evokes the first installment. What’s bad is that it violates the cardinal rule about not providing exposition. Everything that went unanswered about Happy Death Day gets explained, and it almost doesn’t matter whether the explanations themselves are any good. The impulse is the mistake.

Landon (who also scripted this one) maintains the same charming tone he established in the first film—we’re not meant to take the story too seriously, even though we’re meant to view most of the characters with affection—and he accomplishes some nifty tracking shots as well.

If you’re looking for a movie that juggles comedy and gore as casually and loosely as the original, Happy Death Day 2U is not your movie—not least because it’s not really a horror movie. . . . The sequel more diligently—and ultimately less satisfyingly—taps into the emotional core of its premise, pushing it to its logical extremes.

Jessica Rothe as Tree is still an appealing presence. But the film is overstuffed with unfunny self-parodying gore slapstick, half-felt sentimentality and semi-meta sci-fi.